Havering Budget Consultation 2023

Closed 30 Dec 2022

Opened 14 Oct 2022

Contact

Richard Tyler

(Head of Financial Strategy and Business Intelligence)

Finance & Procurement

+441708433340

Richard.Tyler@onesource.co.uk

Feedback updated 15 Mar 2023

We asked

Havering Council launched a consultation on our Budget 23-24 draft proposals, which set out how the Council propose to save money whilst still providing vital public services.  We asked for feedback on how these proposals would affect Havering’s residents.

You said

3188 responses were received to the consultation, plus an additional 11 paper copies that were not available to be included in the full Public Document Pack at the time of publishing.

  • The three most important issues that respondents feel that Havering is likely to face in the next year by weighted rank are: Cost of Living Crisis (49%), Crime/Community Safety (27%), National Health Service/ Healthcare (26%).
  • The three most important issues that respondents are personally most concerned about are: Paying Bills (29%), Cleanliness of Street and Local Area (23%), and Anti-Social Behaviour in My Community (22.44%) however, My Physical Health and Fitness was marginally less (22.35%).
  • Respondents were asked if they would support an increase in Council Tax and did not include any particular assumptions on a Council Tax increase but provided an illustration on how a 1.99% increase in Council Tax would mean an increase of 60p per week on an average Band D property in the borough:
    • 42% supported an increase of up to 2%,
    • 17% supported an increase of 2% or above
    • 38% did not support an increase.

We asked for feedback on our proposals which we grouped into themes:

  • Reducing or stopping some services: The top three proposals that respondents feel will have the most negative affect on them are Reduction of CCTV Monitoring Hours (34%), Reduced Grounds Maintenance (19%) and End of Grant Funding to Havering’s Citizens’ Advice (19%).
  • Changing how we fund and provide services: The top three proposals that respondents feel will have the most negative affect on them are: Alternative Weekly Collection/Containerisation of Waste/Recycling (59%), Review of Parking Services Delivery Model (27%) and Highway Procurement Savings (24%).
  • Increasing income: The top three proposals that respondents feel will have the most negative affect on them are: Increasing Garden Waste Charges (39%), Increase of Cremation Fee and Introduction of New Burial Products (21%) and Increase Bulky Waste Collection Charges (21%).
  • Improving our business efficiency: The top three proposals that respondents feel will have the most negative affect on them are: Reduction in Running Costs (7%), Restructure of Services to Drive out Inefficiencies (7%) and Review and Deletion of Vacant Posts (6%).

We did

Havering's Cabinet met on 8 February 2023 and agreed proposals for the Council's 2023/24 budget.

As a direct result of feedback:

The Council will continue to fund the Havering Citizens Advice Bureau for another year, as it is clear that they provide a vital role for residents.

The proposed closing of the Elm Park Children's Centre which is home to a children's nursery, will continue to stay open as it was clear that closing the site at this time would have put parents and their children at a disadvantage.

Public safety remains a large concern for residents and as part of the proposals, we have committed £3.5 million to push through the new CCTV upgrades, as well as pledged a further £260,000 to continue the Council-funded Section 92 police officers to help keep our streets safe. These officers are extremely successful in what they do and it is important they continue to help reduce crime in the borough.

Please see the full Public Document Pack Here which includes the 2023/24 Council Budget Setting Report.

Overview

Havering Council provides a wide range of services to our communities, spending over £170m every year.

Some of those services, called statutory services, are ones which we must provide by law. Others, called discretionary services, are ones we can choose to provide. We know many of our services are highly valued by our residents but, as in recent years, we know we will have to make some difficult decisions during the setting of the budget to ensure resources continue to be prioritised and money is directed to where it is needed most.

We know that the proposals in this consultation will mean significant changes to what we do and how we do it, and that those changes will impact many residents. This consultation comes when our communities are feeling the effects of the social and economic pressures we face – some of which have been brought into sharper focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. These include rising costs, ever-increasing demand for services like health and social care, growing numbers of households, the impacts of climate change and the demographics of our borough meaning that we have the oldest population in London and in the past ten years our young person population has jumped 20%.

Why your views matter

As we move towards setting the budget for 2023/24, we are very keen to understand the views of our residents and key stakeholders. We are launching this budget consultation to give you the chance to tell us your views on how our budget proposals might impact you, the people you know and your neighbourhood and inform the final decisions we make.

This is a general consultation on the overall council budget for the financial year 2023/24.  In some areas, more detailed consultation will follow later.  Your feedback is important to us and will help us decide which services we prioritise and where we should look for savings.  We invite you to join us at these scheduled events:

The information collected via this questionnaire will only be used in relation to this topic and personal information collected will only be shared with our approved suppliers. For further information about how we handle your personal data please see privacy notice.

This questionnaire should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. For any questions regarding this questionnaire or to request a hard copy, please email richard.tyler@onesource.co.uk

Please see the documents section below for a copy of the Budget Consultation Document.  This questionnaire will close on 30 December 2022.

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